Women to Watch 2024: Julie Nestor, Mastercard

Julie Nestor

Executive vice president, marketing and communications, Asia Pacific
Mastercard
Singapore

Growing up, Julie Nestor dabbled in many activities: Sports, ballet, and tap dance, among others. Despite the high-octane nature of her many hobbies, she always had her head buried in books—a habit that decidedly spurred her drive for communications. Decades later, the marcomms industry has much to be thankful for her book-obsessed childhood, given her immense success in the region. Proof is not just in Nestor’s induction into this list as chief regional marketer for Mastercard, but also in her status as one of APAC’s most influential marketers on Campaign’s Power List. 

Much of Nestor’s work has been done by elevating Mastercard’s Priceless platform, particularly through digital and experiential marketing. For instance, she spearheaded a partnership with Live Nation, which offers cardholders exclusive access to pre-sale tickets, premium seats, and VIP experiences. The brand has also collaborated with tourism bodies in China and India, Alipay in China to ease overseas travellers, and F&B group Lubuds to launch Luma, a gastronomic venture. 

In the sporting world, the brand sponsored the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 as a global partner and managed to engage a billion cricket fans worldwide. One of Nestor’s most innovative efforts was to pioneer a wheelchair ball kid programme at the Australian Open tennis tournament this year by working with creative tech company Streaker to develop a ball-holder and collector for wheelchair users. 

Perhaps most impressively, Nestor and her team partnered with banks in seven regional markets to launch ‘Touch Cards’ targeted at visually impaired customers. In Australia, the brand collaborated with local bank Westpac to develop a pictureless feature-length film that uses sound to provide visually impaired users with a cinematic experience. The sold-out film premiere gained AU$10 million ($$6.6 million) worth of press coverage and picked up a bronze Cannes Lion. 

These aforementioned efforts—both clever and inclusive—catapulted Mastercard to much success, as evidenced by its position as one of APAC’s most valuable brands, according to BrandZ’s rankings. 

When she’s not busy evolving the Priceless platform, Nestor ensures that her marketing wisdom is regularly shared with the larger industry. Through thought-leadership content on LinkedIn, her followers have grown by 51%, effectively converting to speaking engagements, collaborations, and a strong personal brand. It shouldn’t be overlooked that Nestor is passionate about disability inclusion and, through Mastercard’s Adapt group, regularly hosts informative sessions and events to shed awareness on the cause.